Money on the table

It's crazy how much money people spend online.
Recently the number for Australians went up to over $20bn a year spent online, and America’s numbers 30x that.

Check out this live infographic that shows how much is spend over time – in real time since you loaded the page (give it in a minute – it takes a while to compile all the live feeds)

I've always promoted the idea of selling information because it is digital and there are very few overheads to deliver the product.

As a business model, it works great and makes sense, but when you look at this infographic, you realise just how much money we're leaving on the table by not promoting and selling real products.

People are crazy for buying things online…

People who've got itchy trigger fingers for buying things online.
It certainly points to plenty of opportunities for you to help those impulse buyers get what they want, and at the same time help you get what you want… i.e. The money.

The internet has become the first port of call for many people for research and making informed buying decisions, but there are just as many people, maybe more, who are not making informed buying decisions. They are impulse buyers.

They see something advertised that is related to their interests. They read about the product, and it promises.
If they are on a good marketing page, they may read some customer testimonials, and they make a buying decision on the spot.

Buying triggers are different from shopping physically in a mall or a shop. You can't try that top on, you can't feel the weight on that frying pan, you can't check out all the functions of that new gadget…

But you can read all about it, and you can see what others have said about it, and if they have a return policy, you can find out about their guarantee.

Now having heard me talk about the wonders of digital products you might be imagining your living room filled with boxes of merchandise and long hours packing items and taking them to the post office…

I know that's what I always think when I consider physical products.

But the truth doesn't have to be that. I've run an eBay business and an e-commerce store some time ago and some smart thinking and a little time on the phone can change all of that.

There are suppliers all over the world who will drop ship for you. In fact, you can call them and, if you have the sales numbers, even get them to put your labels on the packages.

You can run an entire online business selling your own products, with your labels, without ever touching a single product.

And the great thing is that when you sort out what works and create systems around it, you can outsource all the daily annoying little tasks so that the business starts to run itself.

Like all businesses it takes time to set up. It takes time time to work out what to sell and how to sell it…
but today I want you to start just thinking about it: Just thinking – that's all.

Come up with a few things that you think you could sell – it could be anything. Then type it into watchcount and see how many people are watching that kind of item on ebay… and how many past sales there are.

Craft is always a huge seller, so check this out:

When you see thousands of people watching an item and even more sales than people watching, you're onto something worth investigating further.

Obviously this is a really cheap product… So let's look at something with a higher price point.

Can you believe there are that many people installing cat towers into their homes? Yet, look at all those sales (I hope those things come flat-pack)

So the bargain shoppers all hangout on eBay, but there are plenty more people who won't bother looking but will happily buy when it's put in front of them.

Hang out on watchcount and let the ideas percolate…
This is just the beginning, but I hope at the very least, it get's you thinking.

Here are a few further thoughts about what's happening with ecommerce trends this year and next: